More than 274,000 children’s books collected for summer reading

More than 274,000 books were given to North Carolina elementary school students to read during the summer as part of the 2nd Annual “Give Five – Read Five” campaign.

Parents, business leaders and community members were encouraged during the spring to donate five new or gently used books to their local elementary schools. The result was that 148 schools from 52 school districts collected 274,729 books – more than double the amount of books collected last year by 74 participating schools.

State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson, who started the campaign last year, said Monday enough books were collected to give each of the 69,194 students at the 148 participating schools at least three books each to take home.

Atkinson singled out five high school students from Holland’s United Methodist Church in Garner who made possible the collection of 27,000 books, which were distributed to eight Garner elementary schools.

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